Robert Ellis

Ellis has for some time now been paint­ing large, sparse canvases that speak of nature through elongated dabs of vari­ous greens and browns laced over one another so that they move in space. The conformation is usually that of a reverse “C,” as if a willow branch dabbed with pigment had brushed against it. This moving element is contrasted against a static, usually upright and stick-like. These are played against a field of bare canvas. In this show nature is shoved over to the right and the left half of the painting is devoted to man-mades, which are symbolized by the harsh letters of posters. These letters, because of their color and scale, play Liston to nature’s Patterson.

—Henry T. Hopkins